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Wednesday, August 06, 2014

Seal Entrepreneur Series - Part 5 Improvise for Business Survival

One of the things that you learn as a survivor is that there
is more than one way of accomplishing a goal. Business survival has the same characteristics as this physical example of getting beyond a barrier.

In the Tom Hanks movie where he was stranded on a desert island we
watched as he took only those things he had on the island to survive until he
was eventually rescued (thanks to his trusty signal).

On Apollo 13, we watched the folks at NASA in Houston take
just those things that were in the Lunar module and with only enough power to
power a coffee pot and find a way to bring the astronauts back to earth.

Improvisation is our greatest weapon for survival.

As I write this, I am on Southwest Airlines on my way to a
conference in LA.I noticed from an
email that they sent yesterday that they have free entertainment via WIFI on
any WIFI enabled laptop or notebook.This is brilliant survival amongst major competitors that have done
expensive retrofitting of their fleet with seatback entertainment units.They accomplished exactly the same thing,
using the equipment that their passengers carry with them anyway.

Innovation and improvisation are close cousins, but
improvisation comes from making something out of nothing (or doing something
amazing with very little).

Seal entrepreneurs can do both.We improvise and we innovate.We don’t need richly staffed research and
development (R&D) organizations and design labs that foster new ideas.We innovate at the kitchen table or in line
at the airport or at 40000 feet while we fly.We create

work environments and cultures where we reward our teams for
bringing in new ideas and exploring how others in different industries are
succeeding.

If there isn’t money to move in one direction, we find a way
around, over or under the obstacle.Improvisation is life to the seal entrepreneur and it is fuel for
innovation.

Invest in a seal today.If you don’t want to have to look far, check out my latest venture.